Lecture or Handouts:
What does the name "Beowulf" mean in Anglo-Saxon
when we look at the roots Beo and Wulf?
How is the Anglo-Saxon idea of Wyrd different
from or similar to the Greek idea of fate or moira?
What do we know about the probable religious background
of
the
individual
who
copied
down Beowulf,
given the literacy-levels of England after the the fall
of Rome? What does the word Heorot mean in Anglo-Saxon?
Which character in Beowulf is based on a real figure from
medieval history? Why does Grendel's mother only kill one
individual in retaliation for her son's death? How is
the
mere or lake an inversion of the mead-hall?

Explain the Significance of
the Following Cultural Terms and How They Relate
to the Beowulf Narrative
or Poem

Wergild, Flyting, shame/fame
culture

Reading Questions:

What project does Hrothgar order undertaken to ensure
his fame? What is the name of that constuction project?

What typical activities do the people engage in at this
place Hrothgar makes?

What does the bard sing about inside the hall early
in the narrative? Why does this anger Grendel?

According to the story, from what famous person does
Grendel trace his monstrous lineage?

How many warriors does Grendel eat on the first night
he attacks Heorot?

How long does Grendel haunt Heorot until Beowulf comes
to help the Danes?

What is the one thing in the mead-hall Grendel is unable
to touch or ruin (see lines 165-70)?

What king does Beowulf serve? Why does Beowulf leave
this king to help out Hrothgar? What qualification or
achievements does Beowulf have that make him suitable
for fighting Grendel?

When Beowulf fights Grendel, what special weapon does
he use to dispatch the monster? (trick question!)

Give one example of a beot that Beowulf makes
during the course of the story.

What is Unferth's reaction to Beowulf showing up to
save the day? How does he challenge Beowulf?

How is Beowulf's story about the swimming match with
Breca different than Unferth's version of the tale?

What does Beowulf do to Grendel that mortally wounds
the monster?

What decoration or trophy does Beowulf stick on a spike
over the entry-way to Heorot?

Who comes to avenge Grendel's death?

Grendel's mother kills whom in retaliation for her
son's death?

Where does Grendel's mother live?

What unusual supernatural features does the lake have?
How do deer react when they are chased by hunters to the
edge of the lake? How is that symbolic, given the name
of King Hrothgar's hall?

Who loans Beowulf a sword initially to go fight Grendel's
mother?

How long does the text say it took Beowulf to reach
the bottom of the lake? (See line 1505.)

What happens when Beowulf uses the first borrowed sword
to strike the Troll-Wife (Grendel's Mother)? Where does
he find a second weapon? According to the text, who made
this weapon? When Beowulf retells his battle to Hrothgar,
he lets us know what happened to the sword after it penetrated
the female monster's skin. Although the hilt and handle
and crossguard survive, what happens to the blade itself
after fatally stabbing the monster?

When Hrothgar examines the damaged blade, what decorations
does he find on the sword? (i.e., what Biblical event
is carved on it from the Old Testament?)

According to the summary of excerpted material, how
long does Beowulf rule as king over the Geats?

According to the summary of excerpted material, what
arouses the dragon's wrath and lures it from its lair
to attack men?

Where does the dragon make its lair?

Give a brief blow-by-blow of Beowulf's fight with the
dragon.

Who is the one warrior that remains loyal to Beowulf
when the other thegns run away?

After Beowulf appoints Wiglaf king, what is Beowulf's
last dying request? (i.e., what does he want to look at
before he dies?) What does he ask be done with his body
when it comes to burial?

What punishment does Wiglaf order for those men who
fled from the scene of battle?

Sample Passages for Identification--Be able
to identify what work these quotations come from, what
the
author is (if known), what character (if any) is speaking,
and briefly comment upon the quotations significance or
importance
in
the work:

A: Attend! We have heard of the thriving of the throne of Denmark,
How the folk-kings flourished in former days
How those royal athelings earned that glory. . . .

B: Heorot he named it, / whose word ruled a wide empire. / He made good his boast, gave out rings, / arm-bands at the banquet.

C: It was with pain that the powerful spirit / dwelling
in darkness endured that time, / hearing daily the hall
filled / with loud amusement.

D: This unhappy being
had long lived in the land of monsters
since the Creator cast them out
as kindred of Cain. For that killing of Abel
the
eternal Lord took vengeance.
There was no joy of that feud: far from mankind
God drove him out for his deed of shame!
From Cain came down all kinds misbegotten
--ogres and elves and evil shades--
as also the Giants, who joined in long
wars with God.

E: "Health to Hrothgar! I am Hygelac's kinsman
and serve in his fellowship. Fame-winning deeds
have come early to my hands. The affair of Grendel
has been made known to me on my native turf....
Had [my men] not seen me come home from fights
where I had bound five-Giants--their blood was upon me--
cleaned out a nest of them? Had I not crushed on the wave
sea-serpents by night in narrow struggle?

F: "So that my lord Hygelac, my leader in war,
may take joy in me, I abjure utterly
the bearing of sword or shielding yellow
board in this battle! With bare hands shall I
grapple with the fiend, fight to the death. . . .

FF: Gliding through the shadows came
the walker in night; the warriors slept
whose task was tohold the horned building. . . .
Down off the moorlands' misting fells came
Grendel stalking; God's brand was on him.
The spoiler ment to snatch away
From the high hall some of the human race.

G: Mysterious is the region / they live
in--of wolf-fells, wind-picked moors / and treacherous
fen-paths: a torrent
of water / pours down dark cliffs and plunges into the
earth, / an underground flood. It is not far from here,
in terms
of miles, that the Mere lies, overcast with dark, crag-rooted
trees / that hang in groves hoary with frost. / An uncanny
sight be seen at night there--the fire in the water!

GG: The blood it had shed made the sword dwindle into deadly icicles;
the war-tool wasted
away. It was wonderful indeed
how it melted away entirely, as the ice does in the spring
when the Father unfastens the frost's grip,
unwinds the water's rope--He who watches over
the times and the seasons; He is the true God.

H: "Wyrd saves oft / the man undoomed if he undaunted
be!"

I: The spring was cut on it / of the primal strife, with
the destruction at last / of the race of Giants by the rushing
Flood, / a terrible end. Estranged was that race / from
the Lord of Eternity: the tide of water / was the final
reward that the Ruler sent them.

I:J Passion filled the prince of the Geats:
he allowed a cry to utter from his breast,
roared from his stout heart: as the horn clear in battle
his voice re-echoed through the vault of grey stone.
The hoard-guard recognized a human voice,
and there was no more time to talk of friendship:
hatred stirred. Straightaway
The breath of the dragon billowed from the rock
in a hissing gust; the ground boomed.

K: "I remember the time, as we were
taking mead / in the banqueting hall, when we bound ourselves
to the gracious
lord who granted us arms, / that we would make return for
these trappings of war / these helms and hard swords,
if
such as this / should ever chance for him. . . / That day
has now come / when he stands in need of the strength
of
good fighters, our lord and liege. Let us go to him / help
our leader for as long as it requires . . ."

L:"Quickly go now,
beloved Wiglaf, and look upon the hoard
under the grey stone, now the serpent lies dead,
sleeps rawly wounded, bereft of his treasure.
Make haste, that I may gaze upon that golden inheritance,
that ancient wealth, that my eyes may behold
the clear skillful jewels: more calmly then may I
on the treasure's account take my departure
of life and of the lordship I have long held."

M: "Your kinsmen every one,
Shall become wanderers without land-rights
as soon as aethelings over the world
Shall hear the report of how you fled,
a deed of ill fame. Death is better
for any earl than an existence of disgrace!"

N: A woman of the Geats sang out
the lament for his death. Loudly she sang,
her hair bound up, the burden of her fear
that evil days were destined her
--troops cut down, terror of armies,
bondage, humiliation. Heaven swallowed the smoke. . . .
. . . they said that he was of all the world's kings
the gentlest of men, and the most gracious,
the kindest to his people, the keenest for fame.